


Azumanga Daioh's Romeo and Juliet

by kilroy



Category: Azumanga Daioh
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-20
Updated: 2008-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:16:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1623803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kilroy/pseuds/kilroy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yukari revives the drama club and Tomo and Kagura are drafted into playing Romeo and Juliet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Azumanga Daioh's Romeo and Juliet

**Author's Note:**

> My first slash. Hopefully not a bad one. :)  
> Thanks to the redoubtable Lucy Gillam for being my panic-buddy and for the beta. Any ellipses that remain are strictly my own.
> 
> Written for Grits

 

 

**Down in Front**

Osaka started walking towards Yomi's desk with the look on her face-- the _I have a question_ look. Yomi had tried her hardest not to hear the yelling down the hall, something to do with Yukari and Chiyo-chan of all people. She steeled herself for the inevitable awkwardness, well past trying to guess what it was her classmate actually wanted. 

Osaka stopped just a few inches short of walking into her desk, saved only by happening to look down to smile. "Yomi," she started, "what do you wanna do when you get out of school?"

Yomi momentarily forgot her poker face, blindsided by her friend's sudden interest. "Why... why do you ask?"

"Well, Sakaki is gonna be a veterinarian, and Tomo is gonna be in Interpol, and Chiyo-chan is gonna be an American, and I decided I'm not gonna be a teacher. So I was just wonderin' what else people were going to do."

Osaka as a teacher... Yomi shook her head to clear the image. "Actually, I've been thinking about trying to get into the movies." That sounded a lot more childish to Yomi than she'd thought it would, and when Osaka frowned she actually blushed a little. "What?" she sputtered. "Don't you think I can do it?"

"I tried to get into the movies once," Osaka replied. "It didn't work."

"You?!?" Yomi said with her mouth hanging open. "Did your parents try and get you in a commercial when you were a kid? Is your uncle a movie producer?"

"No, I just walked right up to the screen. But it turns out it's just a big piece o' cloth..."  
  


**A Fate Worse Than Death**

Across the room, Chiyo-chan was trying to explain some basic algebra to Tomo, who was paying more attention to playing with her pencil. Chiyo sighed and tried to rally herself for another try when Tomo snickered, "There she goes again!"

Turning, Chiyo saw the _Osaka just asked me a question_ look in Yomi's eyes; but before any murder could occur she rushed over to intercede. Tomo, of course, abandoned her homework and was right behind her. 

Catching the tail end of the conversation, Chiyo added "Speaking of acting, I heard that there used to be a drama club at this school a few years ago. We used to be pretty good too! There are even trophies in one of the downstairs hallways."

"But there isn't a drama club now, is there?" asked Yomi, grateful for the interruption. 

Chiyo shook her head. "No, there isn't. I wonder why."

Tomo laughed dramatically, leaning in over the desk until her head almost touched Yomi's. "It's a secret too terrible to tell. It's a horror story that would chill you to the very bone! It's a tale of one man... one man who destroyed an entire club with his freakish obsession!"

The others found themselves leaning in closer. Osaka asked "What man?"

"It was... Mr. Kimura!"

The others blinked. Tomo looked around at each of them, marshalling her best spooky whisper. "When the previous literature teacher left he became _the club sponsor_."

There was a moment of awkward silence as the girls processed that bit of information. Then in unison, they went "Ohhhhhhh," and started shuddering.  
  


**Enthusiastic**

"Still," said Chiyo-chan, "there's no reason why we couldn't have a drama club again. We'd just have to find a different sponsor!"

"Like who?" asked Tomo. "I don't think Nyamo would really be up for it. And do you really want to ask--"

"Did someone say _drama_?" shouted Yukari, blowing all of the girls out of their seats. Undeterred, their teacher exploded forward. "Why, I'm an expert on drama!"

"She really has no idea..." muttered Yomi. 

"I _live_ drama! I _breathe_ drama! I _love_ drama!" continued Yukari obliviously. "Listen to this! Drama! DRAMA! _Drama_!  Drama! **Drama**! Duh-rama! See?"

"You're certainly very enthusiastic, Ms. Yukari," stammered Chiyo from behind an overturned chair. The others nodded, starting to pick themselves up off the floor. 

"So," said Yukari, finally slowing down a little. "Why were you talking about drama?"

Before Tomo could gag her, Osaka opened her mouth: "We were talkin' about trying to get the drama club back together--"

"Drama club? That's brilliant! And none of you have clubs! Perfect!" Yukari rubbed her hands together gleefully. "I'll do it!"

"It's not like we actually asked..." said Yomi out of the side of her mouth. 

"Do we really have a choice?" responded Tomo through a forced smile.  
  


**Casting**

"Yomi-o, oh Yomi-o, wherefore art thou, Yomi-o?" crooned Tomo, one arm thrust out from her body dramatically. She gasped, then looked at the ground and took a few steps back. "Is this a scale I see before me? Hark!"

As Yomi and Tomo disappeared in a fistfight into the wings, Sakaki and Kagura walked into the theater. Kagura looked nervous, pulling at the collar of her uniform. Sakaki appeared calm, but inside she was almost as disturbed.

"Do you think we're going to get big parts?" asked Kagura. "I'm not any good at memorizing things, I don't think I could handle more than a few lines..."

Sakaki shook her head. "Ms. Yukari knows us," she said quietly. "She wouldn't do that."

"Heh. You're quite the optimist, you know that?"

As they reached the stage, Chiyo waved brightly to them. "Sakaki! Kagura! Good, we're all here."

"It's just us?" asked Kagura. Osaka nodded. "Yup."

"Maybe the others had scheduling conflicts," suggested Chiyo hopefully. "This is pretty late in the year to start in a club. But I'm glad you could make it, Kagura!"

"Yeah, well, it's the off-season," she replied. "I don't have as much to do when I'm not swimming."

Tomo and Yomi emerged to join the others, Yomi's need for violence momentarily sated. "So when do you think Ms. Yukari will actually get here?" asked Tomo with a grin. "Do we have time to go grab some juice, I'm totally--"

Her sentence was cut off by the sound of the doors slamming open. Between them, clad in jodhpurs and a beret and bearing a rolled poster for a megaphone, stood Yukari. She shouted " _Quiet!_ " and then strode purposefully forward. " _The play will be Romeo and Juliet!_ " she blasted through the megaphone at the students only a few feet away. " _I have already decided who will be playing what parts!_ "

Chiyo-chan took one of her hands off her ears and raised it to get Ms. Yukari's attention. " _Yes?_ " she yelled. Chiyo said, "You don't have to use the megaphone, Ms. Yukari. We're right here."

" _I wanted to make sure you were paying attention!_ " 

"We're paying attention!" moaned Kagura. "We're paying attention!"

Yukari gave her a shrewd look, then put down the rolled-up poster. "Good. Here's the cast list." She pulled out a clipboard and handed it to Chiyo, and all the girls crowded around to get a look while she preened. Kagura blanched immediately and sat down. The others had a quick conference with Chiyo about who the characters actually were. Tomo, however, kept rubbing her eyes, closing them and opening them again in disbelief. She looked at Yukari and pointed at Kagura. "You made _her_ Juliet instead of me?"

Yukari nodded sagely. "She was the best choice for the part." She started ticking things off on her fingers. "Good lung capacity, not too tall, no glasses."

Tomo fumed. "Then why did you make me _Romeo_?"

Her teacher blinked as if it was obvious. "You're the flattest."  
  


**The Duel**

"Fine!" shouted Tomo, closing her fist in front of her face with a look of determination. "I accept this challenge!"

"Here we go..." said Yomi, shaking her head. 

Tomo leapt up on stage. "I _will_ be Romeo! It's the biggest part! It's a terrible burden, but I accept it so that others will not have to suffer." She gave her best martyr look: hands folded, eyes up to heaven. "I'll be the star!"

Chiyo-chan raised her hand unconsciously even though they weren't in class. "Actually, the play has two stars--"

" _Aha_!" barked Tomo, "A competition!" She looked down at Kagura, who was clutching the arms of her seat and looking off into space. Heedlessly, Tomo continued: "It's you versus me, Kagura. An acting fight to the death! And I will not lose! I'll spend every ounce of energy to perfect my craft, neither sleeping nor eating until I have my part perfect..."

Sakaki looked down at Kagura, finally noticing how pale she was. While Tomo rambled on, she leaned over and asked "Are you okay?"

Kagura looked at her bleakly. "I'm the lead. I can't even memorize my English homework, and Ms. Yukari wants me to memorize the whole play, hundreds of lines..." She crossed her arms protectively over her chest. "And I'll have to dress up, I'll have to wear a _dress_."

Yomi patted her on the shoulder. "You'll do fine! Better than Tomo, anyway."

"Traitor!"

Chiyo nodded. "And we'll all help! We're in this together, after all. I'm sure we can do it!"  
  


**The True Secret of Drama**

Kagura held her script folded up in one hand at the front of the classroom, struggling with the unusual language. "I'll look to like, if liking looks to move--" 

"Stop!" yelled Yukari. Kagura looked up confused as her teacher approached and jabbed a finger at the script. "If _looking liking_ moves. We did this three times already!"

"I know, Ms. Yukari, but I just can't get it!" she said desperately. "I can't do this!"

"Sure you can!" said Yukari blithely. Chiyo coughed quietly and Yukari looked at her. "What?"

"Ms. Yukari, maybe we need a different approach. If what we're doing isn't working..."

"Hmm. Maybe." She started pacing rapidly up and down in the front of the classroom, stopping after only seconds with a finger held in the air. "Aha! There is something!"

"What?" asked Tomo eagerly. "Method acting? Cue cards?"

Yukari waved her hand at Tomo. "Nothing like that. But I do know one thing about drama--a secret passed down from actor to actor over the years, a tried and true idea that can make even the worst and most inexpressive actor into a star."

"Go on! Go on!" encouraged Tomo. 

"Please tell us the secret, Ms. Yukari!" said Chiyo-chan. 

Their teacher nodded knowingly. "All right. The secret to acting is this." She paused. "The words don't actually matter."

There was an awkward pause. "What?" asked Yomi. 

"That's right," said Yukari. "You can change the words around all you want. Nobody really listens in a play anyway--it's boring! And with Shakespeare you can't understand half the words anyway! The important part is the _way_ you say them."

"Ohhhhhhhh," said Osaka. "I get it! The way you get the audience's attention is by **raising your voice**! Or by slooooowing it dooooown. Or by putting emphasis on _some_ words but _not_ others."

Yomi looked at her friend, the vein in her forehead starting to throb again. "And by waving your arms around and throwing things, I suppose."

Yukari nodded. "Exactly! Acting is just like teaching!"  
  


**Punch and Tomo**

Tomo grinned as she put the finishing touch on the puppet: a tiny golden crown. She put it on her hand and held it out as far as she could, its face turned towards her. "Father!" she said to the puppet. "I'm leaving you! I'm running off with Juliet and you can't stop us!" Then in a squeaky voice she replied with the puppet, "Why you-- AAAGGGH!" She attacked herself vigorously, shouting "No! No!" and trying to push the puppet away before she finally fell on the floor laughing. 

Chiyo squeaked, "Tomo! You just finished that!" but Tomo sat up grinning and showed her the Montague puppet. "Look, it's fine! Oops..." She adjusted the crown slightly and grinned again. 

Next to her, Osaka was carefully painting another puppet, a look of intense concentration on her face. Sakaki was working on another cast member, trying hard to make an outfit that looked reasonable and only doing so well. Kagura and Yomi were working on a scene with Yukari; Yomi was playing Tybalt and doing very well decrying the virtues of Romeo.

Chiyo-chan finished a puppet of her own, dressed as the nurse, and played with it on her hand for a moment. "It was a good idea to use puppets to round out the cast! I was a little worried at first," she said as she remembered Yukari explaining the idea, "but I think it will be fun!"

Osaka nodded. "Mm. And it means you and me can keep our scripts with us behind the wall, too." 

"Lucky!" responded Tomo. "But then you don't get to be out in the limelight!"

Osaka stopped working, a puzzled expression crossing her face. "Why do they call it a `limelight' anyway? What does it have to do with fruit? Do they use it to find `em in the dark?"

"I don't think so, Osaka," said Chiyo-- but Tomo was already leaping from Osaka's starting point, talking about different frequencies of light and using limelights to catch fruit thieves. Completely ignoring the conversation out of long practice, Sakaki put down the nearly shapeless puppet and sighed. It was never going to look like she imagined no matter how hard she tried. As she stretched she happened to look at the stage, and then caught her breath. "Oh no."

The others looked up in time to see Kagura rush off stage in tears, Yukari shouting for her to come back and Yomi standing next to her watching with a pained expression. The four looked at each other, and Chiyo started to head after Kagura but Tomo got there first. "I got it!" she said as she bolted backstage. "I'll cheer her up!"

Chiyo made as if she wanted to follow, but Sakaki grabbed her and said. "Let her try."

"Do you really think she can cheer Kagura up?" asked Chiyo hopefully.

"She always cheers up Yomi," replied Osaka with a sage nod.  
  


**You Never Try**

The door to the dressing room was closed but not locked-- not that Tomo actually checked before barging in. Kagura already had her head buried in her arms on one of the vanities and didn't even turn when Tomo came in up behind her. "Kagura," she said. No response. "Kagura!" Still nothing. "Kagura, Kagura, Kagura, Kagura, Kagura--"

"Just leave me alone!" she cried out without looking up. 

"Nope!" said Tomo. She hopped up onto the dressing table by Kagura. "You shouldn't let Yukari get to you like that."

"I'm sorry," Kagura sulked, "Maybe I don't have the practice getting yelled at that you do."

Tomo nodded. "I am pretty good at it!"

Finally Kagura looked up out of sheer disbelief. Her face was covered in tears, her eyes already red, yet here was Tomo--who had, if anything, a bigger part than her--smiling and happy and totally unfazed. "How do you do it?" she asked hoarsely. 

"Get yelled at?" asked Tomo. "That's a carefully acquired skill developed over years of school--"

"No," she interrupted. "How do you keep going?"

Tomo stared at her blankly. "Huh?"

Taking a breath, Kagura tried to translate her idea into something Tomo would understand. "You get yelled at more than everyone else in the class combined, Tomo. You get worse grades than I do, you aren't in any clubs, Yomi is your best friend and you make her want to kill you..."

"Yup!" Tomo agreed with a nod. 

Kagura shook her head. "You never even really try, not at anything." She sniffed and looked at her classmate. "So how do you stay so _happy_?"

Tomo flicked her hair back confidently, but as she opened her mouth Kagura's lip started quivering and her flip remark died in the back of her mouth. She just stared at her, paralyzed, until finally Kagura asked, "Well?"

And Tomo shut her mouth, slid off the dressing table, and left.  
  


**The Funny One**

Back up front, Tomo pulled Yomi offstage into the aisle, practically dragging her by her sleeve to the back of the theater. When they stopped, Yomi extricated herself and pushed Tomo a few inches away. "What happened? Is Kagura okay?"

Several different expressions fought for space on Tomo's face. "'Are you okay, Tomo?'" she mimicked. "`I'm fine, Yomi!' `That's good, you looked really weird and I was worried!'"

"Well you do look pretty weird, but that's not that different from normal," commented Yomi. Tomo glared daggers at her, but she merely shrugged. "If you've got something to say, go ahead and say it."

"Yomi, do you think I'm happy?" she asked darkly. 

Yomi's face pinched a little. "That's a strange question."

"Well, do you?" Tomo pressed.

"I think you try really hard to be," she replied carefully.

"I do!" Tomo agreed loudly. "I really do! If there's one thing that I'm really, truly, Olympic-class good at, it's trying to be happy!"

One of Yomi's eyebrows arched a fraction of inch. "Tomo, what--"

"It's all I ever do!" she continued, her volume rising with every sentence. "I'm the happiest! I'm the most enthusiastic! I'm overflowing with optimism and good feeling! I make the world a little better just by being in it! I'm a light-hearted scamp that makes people laugh with her crazy antics!"

"Ok, Tomo, you're scaring me a little--"

"Oh no, I'm not scary! I'm the funny one! You're supposed to laugh at me, Yomi! Why aren't you laughing?"

Tomo stood there, fists clenched at her sides and almost hyperventilating. Yomi thought about all the possible ways she could respond to this situation. After a few moments of consideration, she rolled up her script and hit Tomo gently on the head with it. 

"Idiot."  
  


**DEFCON 2**

The others, even Yukari, looked cautiously out from behind the cover where they had secreted themselves. Several long moments had passed, and they were wondering where the explosion had gotten off to. 

Tomo stared at Yomi.

She stared at the rolled-up script in her hand. 

She stared back at her face. 

She stared for a long time.

Then she grabbed the script and started smacking Yomi with it, yelling "Idiot? Idiot? **You're** the idiot!"

And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.  
  


**The Best Reason**

"Ms. Yukari!" Tomo hollered as she ran up to her teacher. "Yes?" Yukari said with as much dignity as she could muster while un-burying herself from beneath a row of seats. But Tomo didn't stop, speeding past as she asked, "Is it okay if Kagura and I practice in private for the rest of the day?"

By the time Yukari managed a weak "Yes!" Tomo was already closing the door to the dressing room behind her. 

Kagura had cried herself out and was thinking over her options. Ms. Yukari would never let her out of the part, and that pretty much left suicide and staying here in the dressing room for the rest of her life. Killing herself would probably require some kind of supplies, so that made staying in the room a lot easier...

Tomo burst in, slammed the door behind her, and backed up against it. "Kagura, we're going to do this," she said with conviction. 

"What?" stuttered Kagura. "But I can't--"

"We're going to do this," Tomo repeated. "We're going to practice for as long as it takes, in private where there's no one else to make you nervous. We're going to learn our parts backwards and forwards, and then we're going to go back out there and act until the audience weeps."

Kagura looked at Tomo, trying to figure out the look in the other girl's eyes. "But Tomo, how?"

"We'll worry about how later," she said with a grin. "Right now just think about why."

"Ok..." Kagura said, confused. "Why?"

"Because they don't think we can."  
  


**Overacting**

Kagura knelt on her bed, precariously balancing with one hand while holding a script in the other. Tomo, on the floor beneath, encouraged her with a "Go on, go on."

Kagura cleared her throat. "Thou art thyself, though not a Montague," she began. "What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man--" 

Tomo snorted, and Kagura tried to back up. "Nor any other part belonging to a man--"

This time Tomo laughed and Kagura tried to give her a stern look, nearly falling off the bed in the process. That was all it took to knock Tomo over with mirth, and as she rolled around laughing Kagura threw a pillow at her. "You think it's funny, huh?"

"Yes!" gasped Tomo. Kagura threw another pillow. "This is _literature_ , Tomo!" she said, trying not to giggle. "It's a tragedy! It's supposed to be serious!"

But Tomo kept laughing. "Nor any other part belonging to a man!" she wheezed. Finally Kagura broke, slapping her forehead and falling back on her bed laughing just as hard as Tomo. 

After they both calmed down, Tomo put her chin up on Kagura's bed. "Well, we're not going to forget that line in a hurry!"

Kagura rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I just have to say it without Romeo keeling over giggling."

Tomo backed off, putting her hand on her breast. "Me? I can handle myself. I'm a real gentleman of Verona!"

"I think that might be the wrong play," offered Kagura, and Tomo gave her a razzberry. She leaned back until her head rested on the wall. "Although..."

"What?" asked Tomo.

She pursed her lips tentatively. "You know what Yukari said about the words?"

"That they don't matter?" she guessed. "Sure. They don't matter until we start forgetting them."

"Not that part." Kagura shook her head. "Actually I think I meant what Osaka said afterwards. About how you can say things different ways." 

"Seriously?" asked Tomo incredulously. "You want to take advice from _Osaka_?"

"Sort of," said Kagura. She reached over and picked up her script. "Tomo, repeat this line after me. `My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee."

"My name, dear saint, is...." She frowned. "I forgot the rest."

"Right," said Kagura. "But try repeating this." She took a deep breath, speaking in a high, dipping voice straight out of a television comedy and making over the top hand motions to match. "MYYYYYYY name, dear saint, is ha-ATE-ful to myself." She drew an `8' in the air as she said that, then continued with a `B'; "BE-cause it is an ENEMY to THEEEEEEE," and finishing with an `E'. 

Tomo crooked her head, trying her best to match Kagura's vaudeville tone. "MYYYYY name, dear saint..." Kagura drew the `8' again. "Is HATEFUL to myself!" she continued excitedly. She drew the `B' with Kagura. "BE-cause it is an ENEMY to THEEEEEE!" and they both finished drawing the `E.' "YES!" shouted Tomo, "I got it!"

"Mostly," said Kagura seriously. "But I think you'll remember it better if you do something silly to go along with it."

"Yeah!" agreed Tomo, already rubbing her hands in excitement. "That just means we need something silly for the other hundred lines!"

Kagura smiled. "Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something."  
  


**First Kiss**

The girls were getting together at school for an unofficial rehearsal without Ms. Yukari. Their teacher had conned Nyamo into taking her out for dinner, and everyone agreed this was a perfect opportunity to practice in peace. 

In between scenes, Sakaki touched Kagura on the shoulder and said, "You're really doing a lot better."

Kagura blushed, but managed a quick "Thanks" before Yomi called her over for a conference. When Yukari wasn't around, she became a lot more directorial; but given the alternative, nobody really complained. When Kagura arrived, Yomi was standing with Tomo--Yomi looking a little embarrassed, Tomo looking defiant. A little nervously, Kagura asked, "What's up?"

"Well," Yomi started, "there's something that we haven't really talked about. I don't think any of us knew how to bring it up, but we're going to have to deal with it at some point--"

"She wants to know what we're doing about the kissing," Tomo cut in flatly. Then she grinned at Kagura. "What do you think?"

Kagura could feel the heat rise up her neck and onto her face. "I... uh... that is... I hadn't..."

"Exactly," said Yomi determinedly. "The play's a romance, and we've got two female leads. We have to deal with it somehow."

"What's to deal with?" asked Tomo. "We kiss, that's that. Simple!"

"I don't think--" started Yomi, but Tomo held up a hand. "Try us."

A few moments later, they were standing on stage together holding hands awkwardly. Tomo looked at Kagura, "This is the scene where Romeo leaves after spending the night with Juliet. I'm about to go down to--"

"I know," said Kagura. "I know the scene. I just..."

"What's the matter?" asked Tomo with a painfully innocent expression. "Don't you trust me?"

Kagura couldn't help a giggle. "No."

"Well good, you shouldn't trust Romeo anyway," she said with a satisfied nod. "Let's do it!"

The others sat in the front row, and the two of them ran through the scene, burying themselves in it and needing only a few prompts from Chiyo-chan. It wasn't until they reached the end that Kagura remembered what was actually coming. 

"Then, window, let day in," she said with a pause. "And let life out."

"Farewell, farewell!" Tomo said, probably too fast. "One kiss, and I'll descend."

It was over almost before Kagura realized it had started--Tomo just leaned in and caught her unprepared, lips brushing hers with only a momentary pressure before she pulled back. For once Kagura couldn't read the expression in Tomo's face, but she knew that her own registered some combination of shock, embarrassment, and a tiny, surprising hurt. Tomo turned away and pretended to climb down a trellis into the pit. 

Yomi nodded. "Ahhhh, okay," she said, stretching every syllable. "That wasn't bad, guys." 

Osaka looked quizzically at her. "Really? You didn't think it was kinda fast?"  
  


**What's My Motivation?**

Sakaki and Yomi were practicing the Mercutio/Tybalt swordfight scene, and Tomo, Kagura, and Chiyo were having a snack when Osaka came over. She sat next to them and smiled, wearing _the look_ again.

"So tell me again. Why does the apothe... the apofem... the opossum..."

"The apothecary?" suggested Chiyo-chan.

"Yeah, me," she agreed. "Why do I poison Romeo?"

Kagura thought about it. "Because it's your job?"

"Poisonin' people?" asked Osaka. "I must hate everybody."

"No, no!" said Chiyo. "An apothecary is just like a drug store! You sell people medicines and things."

"Oh," said Osaka. "But... I knew it was a poison, right?"

"I guess so," said Kagura. "Romeo definitely asked for it."

"Right," said Osaka. "So why did I sell it to him if I knew he was going to kill himself?"

Tomo shrugged. "Maybe you didn't like Romeo much."

Osaka nodded unenthusiastically. "Maybe. He seemed like such a nice kid, though."

"I... I don't really know, then, Osaka," said Chiyo diplomatically. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm sure it's not that important."

Osaka nodded, sipping her juice. 

"Maybe I thought he was going ta use it on someone else..."  
  


**Clothes Make the Man**

Tomo posed in her doublet and hose in front of the mirror while Chiyo-chan pinned a few stray pieces of cloth into place. "Yes!" she declared. "I am the merchant prince of Venice! Everyone in the city must bow before me!"

Yomi adjusted one of the sleeves of her shirt, currently residing on a mannequin. "You're not royalty, Tomo. You're barely even nobility."

"Ha!" she rebutted. "How can anyone doubt the nobility of this face? I must be secretly descended from royalty! Or the pope!"

Chiyo was prevented from correcting Tomo by the pins in her mouth; and by the arrival of Kagura in full costume from the other room. Her gown was a school drama classic, full of unnecessary poofs and in loud, clashing colors--all the spare fabric from the neckline spent making sure that no one in the audience would ever see her feet. Sakaki and Osaka came in just behind her, Sakaki carefully keeping Osaka from stepping on the dress. 

Yomi adjusted her glasses and whistled. "Wow, Kagura. That's..."

"Beautiful!" exclaimed Tomo, leaving Chiyo holding part of her outfit as she went over to feel the fabric. She cooed and puffed one of the shoulders up extra-high, grinning the whole time. "You look amazing!" she said, and Kagura obligingly blushed. 

"Thanks," she muttered, looking at the floor. "You're not so bad yourself."

Tomo stepped back. "'Not bad'?" she repeated as Kagura looked up. "I'm gorgeous! I'm the manliest man in Florence! How could any woman possibly resist me?" She flexed, and everyone laughed. 

"I could resist ya," said Osaka. 

"I bet you could!" agreed Yomi with a smile.

"No, really!" Osaka emphasized. "I coulda told she's not a man from a mile away. She's got the wrong socks!"

Tomo looked down her front, then back at Osaka. "You're right! Back in a minute." She dashed out and came back in a moment later, her codpiece noticeably larger for the trip. Tomo tilted her head to one side and thrust out her chest. "Better?"

Osaka shook her head. "Not really. You're still wearin' tights."  
  


**Dressing Down**

"I meant it, you know," said Tomo to Kagura as they both tried to extract themselves from their costumes. Kagura looked up from trying to figure out one of her back fasteners and asked, "Meant what?"

"What I said about the dress," she replied as she stripped off the tights. "You really, truly, honestly do look wonderful."

Kagura laughed. "Sure. I look like what would happen if they made a Barbie doll out of brown velvet and 10-year-old gold brocade."

"So?"

Kagura found it hard to return Tomo's gaze. She shook her head. "So nobody could look beautiful in this dress."

"Wrong!" Tomo replied firmly. "It's not about the dress and you know it."

Kagura froze. "What are you talking about?"

Tomo stepped towards her and put one hand gently to her face, turning it so that she was looking straight at her. Then she stepped back, taking her hand away but holding Kagura with her eyes. "Juliet is beauty," she said confidently. "She's someone so gorgeous, so perfect, that Romeo falls in love with her just from seeing her. He doesn't even have to talk to her, he just _knows_. That's what you have to be to play Juliet."

Kagura opened her mouth to say something, a denial, but Tomo shushed her and grinned. "You're lucky, Kagura. That's exactly who you are, and it doesn't matter what dress you're wearing. Everyone's going to see it."

"I don't see it," Kagura whispered. And to her horror, Tomo laughed. She could feel the tears welling up, but Tomo just said. "Do you trust me?"

She blinked, fighting the tears. "I thought I wasn't supposed to trust Romeo."

Tomo smiled. "Don't. But maybe trust me."  
  


**Opening Night**

The night of the first show was full of shouting, last minute repairs, family anxiety, wardrobe malfunctions, and seating decisions--and that was all before the show began. It seemed like the whole school was showing up for the revival of the drama club, along with a healthy chunk of the neighborhood. 

Osaka was doing drama meditations back behind the stage-left puppet theater, chanting something to herself that nobody else could hear. Sakaki was waiting calmly in the wings waiting to raise the curtain on the first act. Chiyo-chan was going over her stack of puppets again and again to make sure they were ordered properly for all the parts she was playing. Yomi was putting her glasses carefully away where they wouldn't get smashed in a swordfight. 

Tomo slipped up to Yomi and poked her in the ribs. "Break a leg, Yomi!"

Yomi snorted. "Break two legs, Tomo, you'll need them."

"Nah, I'll be great!" she replied with her customary grin. "They'll whisk me away to a job in the national theater, just you wait."

"I won't be holding my breath."

Tomo ignored her. "So where's Kagura, anyway? I haven't seen her yet tonight."

Yomi looked up at her. "She was getting her hair done, I think. She had some extra preparations to make tonight."

Tomo nodded. "Okay, I was just wondering--"

Suddenly there was a screech of a microphone followed by Yukari's slightly tinny voice asking "Hello? Is this thing on?" Tomo and Yomi looked at each other, then dashed up to look at the stage.  
  


**Pass the Basket**

Ms. Yukari was there in the spotlight in front of a microphone, wearing pretty much what she always wore to school. Her hair was back a little tighter than usual and the sweater was one they hadn't seen, but her shoes were the same running shoes she always wore. "Nice of her to dress up," muttered Yomi, at which Tomo grinned. 

Yukari coughed politely. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our school production of the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. I'm the homeroom teacher of the actors tonight, and their director, and you can throw the flowers at my chair over there when the production is over." She pointed to a seat next to Nyamo, who tried to shrink out of view. "There are only a few things you need to know about Shakespeare to enjoy the show. The first is that it's really, really hard, so you should excuse any lines that the students mess up. The second is that he's been dead for a really long time, so there's going to be a lot of princes and heralds and things.

"We've been working really hard on this play for a long time, so I hope you all show the proper appreciation when this is over. Any donations to the drama club will be gratefully accepted. Thank you."

She walked off stage to scattered, confused applause.  
  


**Once More, With Feeling**

The first few scenes went reasonably well. Osaka dropped the nurse puppet, but Chiyo managed to pass it off as part of the comedy routine. Tomo improvised a few hammy lines here and there, but the others were able to adapt and roll with it. Kagura wasn't quite ready for her first scene, so they used a puppet Juliet to do the conversation with her mother and the nurse. 

But when it came time for the party scene, Kagura swept onstage right on cue. Tomo looked at her from across the platform, breathing out a stage whispered "What lady is that?" Kagura did not look at her as she continued the speech, as she pushed past Yomi's Tybalt and came up from behind a pillar to grab her hand. 

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand--"

Juliet turned, surprised, and Tomo saw Kagura perfectly balanced even in surprise, ready to deliver a couplet just as full of innuendo as Romeo's own. Something stretched beneath the banter, a discovery as fresh and new as it ever was. As Tomo kissed her hand, she saw her smiling. 

"O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do--"

Their hands were warm together. As Tomo rose to kiss Kagura, she did not let go. 

 


End file.
